Chennai: Addiction to the Internet is not taboo but when your mother asks you to spend time with her and get off the phone, there is a problem.
The problem has gotten so out of hand that the Senior Citizens Group of Besant Nagar and Mylapore have gone out and acquired professional help and expert advice to help solve it.
People who are addicted to the Internet have trouble filling personal and professional obligations because of their online activities, and their use of the Internet cause strains on relationships with family and friends.
“The human value is missing both in parents and children these days. They have become narrow-minded and narcissistic in their approach to life. Their responsibility towards society and thereby themselves is missing,” said B. Hariharan, a lawyer specialising in cybercrime. According to him, there is an entire shift in behaviour patterns since the dot-com boom.
People sometimes complain that they feel uncomfortable as they are being watched on the Internet. They may be sitting in a room all alone and posting on social media but because their audience is the whole world makes them feel exposed, said psychologist Dr Latha Janaki.
“This is paradoxical because they also reveal deep truths to strangers on the internet because of a veil of anonymity. Children divulge personal details on the internet because they think they can discuss issues with strangers to get their unbiased opinions,” she adds.
Addressing an intangible issue and working towards solving it is problematic in itself. “How can we gauge the intensity of the addiction? We can say when someone is a severe alcoholic or not. That’s not possible here,” says Latha.
Another key issue is that everything is connected to the internet these days, said Hariharan. “Even if it is a divorce case, some sort of online material is involved. The text messages on Whatsapp are used as evidence or even interactions on Facebook,” he said.
The solution lies in recognising the problem. While psychologists gauge the problem at hand, diagnosis is almost impossible, they say.
There is virtually no way to recognise an internet addict. According to doctors, however, people who struggle with Internet addiction could often develop other mental health problems like alcohol and substance addiction, depression, suicidal ideation, phobias and/or schizophrenia.
